Components of Exclusive Breastfeeding during the first year of life

COMPONENTS OF EXCLUSIVE BREASTFEEDING DURING THE FIRST YEAR OF LIFE
Parents are sometimes not certain with the proper child care they should give to their newborn child—from the clothes the child should wear to his proper nutrition. The infancy phase – the first year of life—is the phase were vital developments, growth and changes throughout the body happens. Aside from the environment and care a child shout get, the food he intakes affects his initial body weight, health, the reaction of his nutritional stimulus, the resistance of his anti-bodies and overall growth.
In today’s generation, awareness to modern mothers concerning baby’s proper nutrition through breastfeeding should be given for the reason that there are already advanced methodologies to raise a child with the use of technology which is not convincing to be beneficial at all. The rise and the breakthrough of the technology should be used efficiently to deliver warnings and precautions of the things that modern mothers should not compromise. Embracing the advanced way of securing babies’ growth and development is not negative at all. However, mothers should not forget the conventional way (which has been proven as beneficial) of feeding and raising a child. This is why this topic is selected.
In a broader perspective, the relevance of breastfeeding to maternal childcare does not only talk about giving the important nutrients to a baby, it should also have this personal factor in it. In a way, breastfeeding is not only significant in making a baby healthy, it also creates a mother-and-child bond.
There are several evidences that help nurses with their practices of educating and promoting breastfeeding to Modern mothers. First, giving girth is a celebration of new life. Thus, it should be healthy for it to be treasured. Second, every mother has their own unique way of pregnancy and giving birth. Third, in having a family-centered maternity and child care, breastfeeding should always be considered. Fourth, that women have their liberty and freedom in making their own decisions. Moreover, they are empowered to take critical responsibility. Fifth, nurses have powerful effect on women who are giving birth. Sixth, technology should be used efficiently in having and in making a family-centered maternity and newborn care. Lastly, having a good communication should be observed in ensuring a more effective imposition of breastfeeding to all mothers.
Breastfeeding is the process of feeding an infant or a child through her mother’s breast. Medical practitioners say that breastfeeding is an ideal nutrition to support an infant’s growth and development for the first 6 months after birth. Many researches have once suggested that the very first breastfeeding should be done an hour after the infant came out from his mother’s womb. In line with this discussion, breastfeeding consists variety of process and procedures, scientifically. It includes the lactation process of a mother. Lactation is the process where mammary gland located within the fatty tissues that secretes the milk to be fed to the infant. Usually, this process happens during the post-pregnancy phase of a mother.
Scientifically speaking, the hormone oxytocin is produced in response to the birth of a new baby. This fact might draw a question. Oxytocin helps to signal uterine contractions which then be the beginning of the lactation or the process of breastfeeding. During the start of breastfeeding or lactation, a special element (fluid) colostrum is handed over to the child. This is one of the most important fluids an infant should get during the first hour of breastfeeding.
Colostrum in a deeper understanding carries huge number of antibodies which gives protection to a physically-weak baby against infant infections. After this specific process, the hormone prolactin controls the flow of breast milk considering the length of time that breastfeeding happens to the infant. In a different perspective, lactation is the process where an infant gets the milk from his mother.
There are two disordered physiological process associated with diseases or injuries during the lactation process.
First is the mammogenesis. Mammogenesis is the process where the mammary gland starts to be developed. In the process, breast starts to develop in utero. At 18 to 19 weeks of gestation or the carrying of an embryo, a bulb-shaped mammary bud is already visible in the fetus. In the bud, a rudimentary mammary ductal system is being formed, which is already present at birth. Along the process, the development of the mammary gland parallels of the child until puberty. Mammary gland has the alveolus or acinus cell that connects a two different ductules. The reason why each ductule should be connected to each other is that it is believed to be drained along the process that turns in to emptied lactiferous sinuses. These lactiferous sinuses help in allowing the milk to flow through the infant’t mouth. In some cases, the reason why a lot of mother cannot produce milk for their baby is that, there are some informalities happened with the alveolus or the acinus cell. There is a high tendency that these specific cell fails to connect to different ductules that hinders the flow of the milk.
On ultrasonography, a technique using echoes of ultrasound pulses to delineate objects or ares of different density in the body, the milk ducts appear like hypoechoic tubular structure with echogenic walls. Ducts are supposed to store milks, but in this case, ducts where shown as the channel of transportation of the milk. More so, it is somehow proven that the nipple diameter is not related to the number and the diameter of ducts or to the total production of milk for an individual breast. In addition, in some instances, the proportion of glandular and fat tissue, and the number and size of ducts does not have a significant relationship with each other.
Another possible pathophysiological process in the process of breastfeeding is the lactogenesis. Lactogenesis is where the mammary gland develops its capacity to carry a milk for the newly-born infant. In this specific phase, all transformation needed by the mammary gland from its undifferentiated state to its perfect state after pregnancy.
Lactogenesis has two different stages. The first stage happens during the mid-pregnancy period. There were increase in lactose, total protein, and immunoglobulin, or the antibodies. On the other hand, there were decrease in the production of sodium and chloride concentrations. As an evidence for this specific phase, pregnant women noticed drops of colostrum on their nipples during the second or the third trimester of their pregnancy.
On the other hand, the second stage of lactogenesis happens during the time of delivery. It is known to be the onset of copious milk secretion. In this specific phase, the blood flow, the oxygen, and the citrate concentration have an increase on the volume of production. As a signal, the removal of the placenta means the start of milk production; however, the placenta does not inhibit full lactation. Moreover, a research has claimed that during this specific process, the receptors of progesterone, which are responsible in signaling tissues or hormones for their possible actions, are lost. In addition, mothers while in the process still secretes insulin, growth hormones, cortisol (stress hormones), and parathyroid hormone (secretes and regulates the calcium in our blood) stimulates and signals the transportation of nutrients and minerals which are vital and significant during the lactation.
As discussed on the first part of this essay, breastfeeding during for the first hour of the newborn baby helps him to acquire a stronger resistance and significant antibodies to protect himself for possible infectious disease during his infancy. In the whole world, data says that about four million babies die annually in the first four weeks of their life. Most of these cases show that this huge number of neonatal death were caused by preventable diseases. It is just then proven that early breastfeeding is an intervention to possibly reduce the number of this unfortunate neonatal deaths.
During the early weeks of the infancy period, infants only can have fluid or milks as their food. It not possible for them to intake...